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Spelling and typing supports can now be funded through portions of the developmental disability waiver system — ensuring nonspeaking Vermonters have access to the communication that works best for them.
Affirms the right to communicate, to access supports and technology, to be understood, to autonomy, and to equality. Advocates are pushing the Senate to advance this landmark legislation strengthening ADA protections for nonspeakers.
In this four-minute NBC News NOW report, nonspeaking advocates and their families publicly question campaign donations made to New York State Senator Patricia Fahy after she introduced an amendment that would have narrowed the protections in the state's proposed Communication Bill of Rights.
The original bill — already passed unanimously by the New York State Assembly — affirms the right of every New Yorker to communicate using the method that works for them, including letterboards, spelling, and supported typing. Advocates told NBC News the amendment would have carved nonspeaking people out of those protections, undoing the legislation's core purpose for the population that needs it most.
The segment features nonspeaking communicators, family members, and disability-rights advocates explaining why access to their chosen method of communication is not a clinical preference but a civil-rights issue — and why they are scrutinizing the political relationships that shaped the amendment.
ALBANY, N.Y. — A new bill passed by the State Assembly last year could guarantee that no person will be denied their preferred method of communication. It is set to go to a final vote, and would impact many nonspeaking individuals in the state.
Just like American Sign Language, or Braille, this legislation would ensure that people are allowed to use their preferred method of communication, always.
“This is a human rights issue for my generation,” said Abby Newbold, a nonspeaking individual. “I was trapped in a silent cage, now I am out free.”
Abby uses a letterboard to communicate. She spells out her words on the board, and because she has apraxia, her mom holds it for her.
From the beginning, Abby and her family tried everything to communicate with her.
“We used traditional therapies, for Abby,” stated Andrea Palerino, Abby's mom. “Speech therapy, occupational therapy, all the recommended things. After over a decade, we still had a child that didn't have any functional speech.”
It wasn't until they tried an alternative method, of spelling with a letterboard, that she was finally able to share her voice.
“It's literally opened up a world,” Palerino explained. “We now have a child that we can speak to, communicate with, who can sit here and advocate for herself, who can be in academics in school versus being in a life skills classroom because they can actually assess her.”
Yet, that new world is not officially validated in the state of New York. This bill would give Abby, and others like her, the right to communicate, to share their voice inside — a right that could not be taken away.
“This bill is really important to us as parents because we would hate for something to happen to me or my husband and have Abby having to go into care at one of their group home facilities and lose her voice,” Palerino added. “We want her to be able to keep her voice because the way that it is now, they wouldn't have to honor her communication.”
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara is sponsoring this bill. He says that the ones fighting for it are families advocating for a change.
“It's heartbreaking stories of people being stuck in a second grade level of learning,” noted Assemblyman Santabarbara. “When they could do much, much more. If you just give them the tools they need.”
For Abby, the need for change is simple.
“I want to help my brothers and sisters that are still trapped in their silent cages,” explained Abby.
Featured NBC News broadcast and accompanying article on families fighting to protect spelling and supported typing as a right for nonspeaking communicators.
Judy Chinitz on her nonspeaking son Alex finding language through spelling — and the case for state legislation protecting communication choice.
Coverage of the family's opposition to amendments weakening the New York Communication Bill of Rights.
Op-ed arguing for stronger protections for nonspeaking New Yorkers' right to communicate using the method that works for them.
Labor and advocacy coverage of the Communication Bill of Rights campaign.
Families describe "life-changing" results from keyboard typing and letter-pointing instruction with Spellers Method Charleston.
Local broadcast on Access S2C teaching nonspeaking adults and children to spell their thoughts on a letterboard.
Clinician Debra Brause, Psy.D., describes how Spelling to Communicate (S2C) changed one young woman's life and what it taught her practice.
Elizabeth Bonker, valedictorian at Rollins College, delivers her commencement address via text-to-speech: a computer keyboard "unlocked my mind from its silent cage."
National coverage of Bonker's address — chosen by her fellow valedictorians to speak for the class of 2022.
Network broadcast feature on a nonspeaking autistic communicator using a letterboard and keyboard to deliver her own words.
First-person account from Elizabeth Bonker on her education, her nonprofit work, and unlocking communication via typing.
Profile of Ido Kedar — nonspeaking author and honor-roll student mainstreamed into high school after learning to type.
Lesley Stahl's segment on nonspeaking autistic people communicating for the first time using tablets and AAC apps — early national coverage of the breakthrough.
Broadcast segments, news features, and on-camera interviews with nonspeaking communicators. 23 videos.
Journalism and written features about nonspeaking communicators and the spelling, typing, and letterboard methods they use. 115 articles.
Feature-length films telling the story of nonspeaking communicators in their own words.
Feature documentary following eight nonspeaking autistic people who learned to spell on letterboards — and the families and practitioners who supported them.
Award-winning documentary about Jordyn Zimmerman, a nonspeaking autistic woman who graduated from college and now advocates for inclusive education. Proceeds support the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
The father-and-son memoir that inspired SPELLERS — Jamie Handley's own account of breaking out of nonspeaking silence through letterboard spelling.
Memoirs, anthologies, and scholarly volumes — most written or co-written by nonspeaking authors themselves. See our Library for the current reading list.
Eye-gaze patterns inconsistent with facilitator authorship in nonspeaking autistic typists.
Argues for a motor-and-sensory framework in clinical and research practice.
Methodological critique of the 1990s study design.
Public entities (schools, healthcare, government) must provide auxiliary aids and services so communication with disabled people is as effective as with others. Supported typing falls within this scope.
Federal special-education law requires communication needs to be addressed for students whose primary mode is not reliable speech.
Multiple US states have introduced or passed bills affirming the right to access AAC and supported communication in educational and medical settings.
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